“USCIS is issuing steerage within the USCIS Policy Manual that interprets that the confidentiality protections beneath 8 U.S.C. 1367 finish at naturalization, which is able to enable naturalized U.S. residents beforehand protected beneath 8 U.S.C. 1367 (particularly, Violence Towards Ladies Act (VAWA) self-petitioners and people looking for or with permitted T and U nonimmigrant standing) the power to totally entry e-filing and different customer support instruments.
This guidance is conscious of requests from naturalized residents and different stakeholders, and it gives these U.S. residents with elevated entry to customer support instruments, serving to to get rid of obstacles to case processing and bettering USCIS response instances for sure inquiries. Termination of the protections after naturalization will enable a naturalized citizen to request a substitute naturalization certificates within the case the place they might have misplaced this doc. It might enable the citizen to ask or reply questions relating to their intent to be a monetary supporter for parole candidates.
Suggestions from stakeholders, adjudicating officers, and naturalized residents indicated that eradicating the obstacles to communication and case processing, initiated by 8 U.S.C. 1367 protections, will show a big profit in household reunification and humanitarian sponsorship. This may enable extra freedom in exchanging data between the naturalized citizen and USCIS and in flip, will increase customer support help from USCIS to the naturalized citizen.
Individuals eligible for and recipients of survivor-based immigration aid (particularly Violence Towards Ladies Act (VAWA) self-petitioners and people looking for or with permitted T and U nonimmigrant standing) are entitled to protections beneath 8 U.S.C. 1367. The confidentiality provisions had been enacted to guard noncitizen victims from their abusers’ use of the immigration system as a instrument to additional hurt and management them and to restrict disclosure of their requests for immigration safety. After a noncitizen sufferer turns into a U.S. citizen, their abuser now not has the identical means to make use of the immigration system in opposition to the sufferer. Persevering with these safeguards after naturalization causes case processing delays and is extra of a hardship than a safety mechanism.
This steerage, contained in Quantity 1 of the Coverage Handbook, is efficient July 12, 2024. On that date, USCIS will cease making use of the 8 U.S.C. 1367 protections to naturalized residents. The steerage contained within the Coverage Handbook is controlling and supersedes any associated prior steerage on the subject. For extra data, see the Policy Alert (PDF, 428.31 KB). To supply suggestions on this replace, electronic mail the Workplace of Coverage and Technique at policyfeedback@uscis.dhs.gov.”
